Competing in a market dominated by e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart wasn’t easy especially with a small investment. In fact Meesho was once a joke on social media memes mocking the company went viral. But instead of being discouraged the founders turned those memes into their strength. What started as mockery became their winning strategy.  How Meesho Started? This journey began eight years ago. In 2015 Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal both IIT graduates quit their jobs to start a business. Their first startup “Fashnear” failed despite all efforts but they even spent entire days outside shops trying to attract customers. Though the failure was disheartening it gave them the idea for their next venture. Vidit Aatrey comes from a middle-class family in Meerut. Along with his friend Sanjeev he founded Meesho. What Was An Idea Behind Meesho? They noticed that many small shop owners especially women running businesses from home were using platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to sell their products. Vidit and Sanjeev saw an opportunity. They decided to build a better platform for these social media sellers and in 2015 Meesho was born. Their model allowed users to sell products via social platforms and earn commissions. The two founders also realized that while Amazon and Flipkart focused on big cities there was a massive untapped market in smaller towns. By the end of 2015 they had started Meesho out of a small two-room flat in Koramangala Bengaluru. Their dining table became their first office. Memes On Meesho  Meesho’s claim of being the most affordable shopping platform triggered a flood of jokes and memes online. But instead of getting offended Vidit and Sanjeev focused on work. They turned this image of being cheap into their unique selling point (USP) and it worked for them Competing With Amazon and Flipkart According to a report by Alliance Bernstein Meesho overtook Amazon and Flipkart in terms of user base growth in FY2023. While Amazon’s user base grew by 13% and Flipkart’s by 21% Meesho grew by 32%. In 2023 Meesho became India’s No. 1 shopping app with 145 million downloads according to Data.ai. The driver behind Meesho’s rapid success was its zero-commission policy sellers paid no commission helping them to offer products at much lower prices. Meesho now has over 1.1 million sellers and offers products across 700+ categories. Its current valuation is Rs 32000 crore. In 2019 Facebook invested Rs 200 crore in Meesho. By 2021 it had reached unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation. In 2022 Meesho surpassed the milestone of 100 million monthly orders.